On the Third Anniversary of the War in Sudan, the Alliance for Peacebuilding Calls on World Leaders to Work Toward Sustainable Peace
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2026
CONTACT
Nick Zuroski | nick@allianceforpeacebuilding.org
Washington DC, USA — The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), a network of nearly 300 organizations working to prevent violent conflict and build sustainable peace in 181 countries, solemnly marks the three-year anniversary of the devastating war in Sudan that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As the war enters its fourth year, the response by the international community remains direly inadequate. AfP calls on world leaders to act with urgency to promote an inclusive peace process, address the humanitarian crisis and its disproportionate impacts on women and girls, prevent further atrocities and protect civilians, and facilitate a civilian-led democratic transition.
Since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million, and left 33.7 million in need of humanitarian assistance. The Sudanese people have suffered relentless violence and atrocities—particularly systematic and widespread conflict-related sexual violence and gender-based violence. Conflict-related sexual violence is now “a defining feature of the war itself” and starvation is being utilized as a weapon of war. Amidst these atrocities, the U.S. Government determined that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and that members of the SAF perpetrated war crimes. The United Nations also determined that the RSF’s October takeover of El-Fasher bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”
Despite warnings and practical recommendations to policymakers from local and international civil society, including AfP and the wider peacebuilding and atrocity prevention community, the international community is failing in Sudan, and must do more to end the war. While AfP welcomed the recent establishment of a “Sudan Core Group”—including Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom—that is mobilizing states and regional institutions to prevent further atrocities in Sudan, other governments must join and support this coalition’s critical mission.
Furthermore, world leaders must leverage today’s Berlin Conference to complement the work of the Sudan Core Group, as well as provide assistance for civilian protection, peacebuilding and atrocity prevention, and peace, justice, and accountability processes inclusive of local civil society, women, youth, and other marginalized communities. Governments and donors must do more to support frontline responders carrying out essential work in the most challenging of circumstances, especially mutual aid groups like the Emergency Response Rooms. The international community must also hold actors that are enabling and facilitating atrocities in Sudan, particularly the UAE, accountable, and lay the foundation for a civilian-led transition.
Every day this war continues in Sudan, the risk of greater violence, more atrocities, and further destabilization of the entire region increases. On this grave day, AfP calls for immediate and urgent action by the international community to end the war, address its catastrophic humanitarian crisis and atrocities, and work toward building sustainable peace.
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), named the “number one influencer and change agent” among peacebuilding institutions worldwide, is an award-winning nonprofit and nonpartisan network of almost 300 organizations working in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and build sustainable peace. AfP cultivates a network to strengthen and advance the peacebuilding field, enabling peacebuilding organizations to achieve greater impact—tackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone.